Three-Dimensional Printed Miniature Fiber-Coupled Multipass Cells with Dense Spot Patterns for ppb-Level Methane Detection Using a Near-IR Diode Laser

Abstract Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) based on a multipass cell (MPC) is a powerful analytical tool and is widely applied to air quality monitoring, industrial process control, and medical diagnostics. However, the conventional MPC as a core component in TDLAS devices has a large size, low utilization efficiency of the mirror surfaces, and tight optical alignment tolerances. In this paper, we design and fabricate a mini-MPC with an optical absorption path length of 4.2 m and dimensions of 4 × 4 × 6 cm3 (open cavity), which, to our best knowledge, is the current smallest MPC in terms of the same optical path length. The mini-MPC generates a seven-nonintersecting-circle dense spot pattern on two 25.4 mm spherical mirror surfaces, providing a high fill factor of 21 cm–2. A fiber-coupled collimator and an InGaAs photodetector are integrated into the mini-MPC via a high-resolution three-dimensional printed frame, hence removing the requirement of active optical alignment. Using a 1.65 μm distributed-feedback laser, the performance of this mini-MPC for methane detection was evaluated in terms of linearity, flow response time, stability, minimum detectable limit, and measurement precision. Continuous measurements of methane near a sewer and in the atmosphere were performed to demonstrate the stability and robustness of the highly integrated mini-MPC-based gas sensor. Our analysis shows that a methane minimum detectable limit of 117 ppbv is achieved, paving the way toward a sensitive, low-cost, and miniature trace gas sensor inherently suitable for large-scale deployment of distributed sensor networks and for handheld mobile devices.